It's been almost a month since Jill Scott released her first album in a decade, To Whom This May Concern, and she's happy with the reception thus far.
"When you are working on something so diligently and with so much love, it's scary to lend your baby to the world," she says in an interview with People. "But people are responding well and treating my baby kindly and actually listening, which gives me the greatest joy."
To Whom It May Concern peaked at #4 on the Top R&B Albums chart, with lead single "Pressha" atop the radio charts and in the top 20 of Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay. It's a far cry from the amount of support she was told she'd get if she didn't meet the industry's beauty standards.
“I had somebody tell me in the beginning of my career that if I didn’t lose weight, or if I didn’t straighten my hair or whatever, that I’d never sell any records,” Scott says. “That sucked, but luckily I didn’t listen to them and decided to just continue to be myself.”
She credits her mother for giving her advice that helped her stay positive during her rough upbringing in Philadelphia.
“We were in a community where you would hear gunshots on a regular basis," Scott says. "There was a summer when I lost a lot of friends, young men that I knew. My mother taught me to keep looking for beauty no matter what. I just kept finding a reason to believe in myself, to have some joy and create joy around me.”
To Whom This May Concern is available on streaming services.
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